Northeast Subaqueous Soils Committee

Chair: Mark Stolt, University of Rhode Island

Charges

1. Glossary of terms. Our understanding was that the terms had been accepted for the NSSH section 629. Check on the status of the terms in the draft of under proposed terms.
2. Amendments to Soil Taxonomy to accommodate subaqueous soils. Changes to the draft document forwarded to the NRCS National Office for distribution and comment.
3. The draft document of Standard Methods for Mapping Subaqueous Soils was distributed among committee members. Any comments or suggestions on the document should be sent to Mark Stolt.
4. A lengthy discussion on SAS interpretations was held. Mark Stolt indicated he would circulate a laundry list of interpretations, and obtain from Mike Bradley criteria used for the interpretations on the Map Coast web based soil survey of Ninigret Pond.
5. A short discussion on bathymetric methods was held. Methods for collecting bathymetric data are included in the methods document and should be consulted.
6. A recommendation was developed to encourage the national NRCS to support a Center of Excellence for SAS in the NE for training of soil scientists in the area. The NE Subaqueous Soils Committee recommends that NRCS establish an office as a Center of Excellence for Subaqueous and Coastal soils. This center will be able to provide assistance to the NCSS in developing the technology, protocols, classification, interpretations, and training needed to support the emerging natural resource priority of coastal protection and restoration for natural and human communities. The President’s U.S. Ocean Action Plan recognizes the threats and declining health of the world’s oceans and estuaries. The role of cooperative conservation and the need to map and interpret estuarine resources are outlined in the Action Plan. The NCSS has a critical role to play in meeting these emerging natural resource issues, and NRCS support is critical.
7. The NE Subaqueous Soils Committee recommends that the other Regional NCSS groups consider establishing Subaqueous Soil Subcommittees. There is a need to have a formal mechanism to share scientific information, technology, classification, and protocols among soil scientists involved in subaqueous soils across the U.S. NCSS subcommittees have proven to be a successful mechanism for accelerating the science for emerging soil science issues.

Charges Identified for the 2008 Southern Cooperative Soil Survey Conference That May Be Of Interest:

1. Identify at least 3 Subaqueous Soils interpretations and the soil properties that are required to make these interpretations
2. Develop a list of actual/potential customers who need these interpretations?
3. Define vision/process to develop Ecological Site Descriptions for subaqueous soil map unit components?